Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(97)
“Hold up,” he said to Luca when they passed the door leading to the staff locker rooms. “I’m gonna put on a vest.” He insisted all his security guards wear Kevlar body armor after a rise in gun fights around the downtown casinos, mostly caused by disputes arising from the drug trade. “You should wear one, too.”
“I’m good.” Luca said. “Those things are so damn uncomfortable I can’t move like I need to move.”
Luca never wore a vest. He was still in self-destruct mode after his wife’s death—too many women, too much booze, too much gambling. Although he had been younger when his father died, Nico remembered having similar feelings—taking on risky jobs for his father’s capos because he didn’t care if he lived or died. All he wanted was an end to the pain.
After Nico put on the vest beneath his shirt, they made their way down to the high-stakes room. Good as his word, Vito had cleared it out and the only people left were Dante, the dealer, and two casino regulars. Nico sat on the opposite end of the blackjack table from Dante and threw some money on the table. The dealer nodded and handed him a stack of chips.
“Gentleman, would you excuse us? Private game.” Vito ushered the dealer and the two players out of the room, with murmured apologies. Although private gaming wasn’t allowed in Vegas, Nico had outfitted the high-stakes table area with sliding doors and shuttered windows that could be closed to hide the room when the highest of the high rollers came to visit. Vito closed the doors and windows, and Luca clamped a hand on Nico’s shoulder in warning.
“The guards are all outside. You want them in?”
Nico looked around the small room, his gaze resting on Dante. “I don’t want anyone here but you, me and Vito.”
*
“Jules, forget the passwords. I need you to login to our work system and hack into Nico’s eye-in-the-sky at the casino.” Mia ran through the house with her mother and Kat behind her, the phone to her ear. “I need to know where Nico is. I hacked his phone, so I know he’s in the casino, but I can’t pinpoint his location.”
“I’m on it,” Jules said. “This is all very exciting. I mean, the job is exciting but kidnappings, rescues, bad guys who aren’t really bad, good guys who aren’t really good, guns, embezzling money—”
“I’m not embezzling my father’s money. I’m transferring it to a locked account for safekeeping. He won’t be able to hide any money or liquidate his assets if everything goes south. I don’t want his dirty money. If he gets arrested, I might hand it over to the police. Or maybe, I’ll just give it to charity.”
“You’re a regular Robin Hood.” Jules laughed. “I’d say that makes your black hat gray.”
Mia gave her mother a hug, but when she turned to Kat, her sister was already pushing past her and out the door.
“I’m coming with you,” Kat said. “You need someone on the phone, and I’m not sitting at home waiting for Papà to plan out my life like a good little Mafia princess. I’m not the girl you thought I was. Even if you say no, I’ll jump in the car and follow you. This isn’t something you can do alone.”
Mia glanced at her mother for approval, and her mother nodded. “Keep each other safe. I would come, too, but someone needs to be here when your father gets home.”
“Mama…” Mia knew just what would happen when her father got home and found his guard drugged and Mia gone.
Mama smiled. “I think there’s a little bit of the pasta al forno I gave to the guard. Your father will be hungry when he gets in, and he’ll want to eat before he gets down to business.” She reached out and gave Mia’s hand a squeeze. “We are all strong in our different ways. Now, go save your man.”
*
“I can only assume you came here looking for me.” Nico had never seen a man who looked as utterly wrecked as Dante did now—tie askew, shirt untucked, hair mussed. So unlike the man who had shaken his hand at the Cordano family home.
“You were looking for me.” Dante raised his weary, bloodshot eyes, his face pale and dull as though his life had been sucked away. “I thought I’d save you the trouble. Here I am.”
So this was it. Face to face with his father’s killer after ten long years. Security cameras turned off. No one to stop him. Two loyal men at his back. If he pulled out his gun and shot Dante now, his father would finally be avenged. It was all he had ever wanted, all he had dreamed about since the moment he held his father’s lifeless body in his arms.
His hand hovered near his waist where his weapon was holstered. He’d made a promise to Mia. A promise to himself. If he pulled the trigger, he would be back where he started. There had to be another way.
“What are you doing here?” He lowered his hand, studied the man across the table. “A man who would shoot an unarmed man in the back, and then hide behind his father for ten years, isn’t the kind of man with the courage to face his own death.”
“Maybe you’re wrong.” Dante swirled the bourbon in his glass. “Maybe I’m done with the Mafia life and I wanted to do one courageous thing before I die.”
“Circumstances can change,” Nico said. “But not a man’s character.”
Dante gave a bitter laugh. “Once a coward. Always a coward. You’re right about that. I was always too afraid to stand up to my father. I did whatever he told me to do even when inside I was screaming. Mia thinks my father tricked me into shooting your old man. But the reality is, I knew he wasn’t armed. I just had no choice. Do you know what it does to a man when you go against your conscience? It eats at your soul until there’s nothing left, until you become nothing more than the instrument for someone else’s will.”